


The Villain I Appear To Be

by Franstastic_Ideas



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Wild West AU, F/M, I Accidentally Turned This AU Into a Musical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-06 00:28:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20282392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Franstastic_Ideas/pseuds/Franstastic_Ideas
Summary: After Papyrus broke the heart of her dear younger sister, Frisk ultimately decides that she's not going to take this lying down. She had warned her not to get involved with that playboy, but she didn't listen. Chara has already learned her lesson. But Papyrus? He still needed to be taught a strict lesson on what happens when you make fools out of the Dreemur Sisters.





	The Villain I Appear To Be

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first story I've wrote in a while, so I'd appreciate the feedback since I think I might still be a little rusty.
> 
> This story might be somewhat confusing for those that haven't read ilostmypotatoes's comics, but I tried to make what has already happened clear and concise in the narrative to avoid as much confusion as possible.
> 
> So if you like this story, you really should show the AU's creator some love and appreciation on her tumblr!

A hush fell over the saloon as the owner stepped up onto the platform stage and moved towards the microphone. Grillby cleared his throat, a hint of nervousness in his tone as he made the announcement.

“Due to issues of… health, Miss Chara will not be performing tonight…”

A small round of boos came from the crowd, but one stern look from the fire monster silenced them as quickly as they had come. Others in the audience whispered amongst each other with concern, wondering what horrible malady the sweet show girl had caught.

Grillby knew exactly what kind of illness it was that poor Chara had contracted, the worst one of them all – heartbreak. He had seen everything. Jolene entering the saloon. Papyrus passing her completely to oogle at Jolene. Chara holding onto a parchment with a tightened grip, tears beading at the corners of her eyes… But Grillby wasn’t one to pry into others’ business. He simply told Chara she didn’t look well and sent her home to recover without ever letting the girl know he was aware of what had transpired.

“In her place, Miss Frisk will be performing solo for the night. Please give a warm round of applause for her.”

The seated crowd did as asked of them. Some of the more ornery and drunk men gave a few hoots, hollers and wolf whistles in the lady’s direction as the curtain rose to reveal her place on stage.

Frisk stepped front and center before the microphone, a tight smile on her lips.

_It was fake._

Sans frowned in his seat, seeing through her disguise. Was she shy performing without Chara by her side? She had sung before without her, but her voice had fallen to a soft delicate whisper during those times, barely audible, but oh so _enchanting_ to his senses even if he doesn’t understand the words to her song. Almost as if she were whispering her secrets for him to keep and guard.

…Or perhaps that belief was a product of his own lovesick fantasies.

Regardless, the sheriff knew he was in for a treat tonight. Chara was a wonderful person and a talented songstress; he could understand why his brother had taken an interest in her and he felt great sympathy for her catching ill, but whenever she was up on stage with her sister, Sans felt as though Frisk didn’t get much an opportunity to shine.

Then again, Miss Frisk had enough suitors to worry about as is, even when she clearly wore a veil as she mourned her dear departed husband, who Sans had only recently learned never existed. Apparently she wore it to throw off her more _troublesome_ suitors. It warmed his SOUL to its core that Frisk would share something so confidential with him – he wasn’t even upset that she had essentially been untruthful towards him as well this entire time! He understood. Having that kind of unwanted attention coming from all angles from the town’s men would grate on any lady’s nerves in a relatively short amount of time.

A quiet clearing of her throat brought his attention out of his thoughts and to the woman who had captured his SOUL.

_“Sometimes when I_

_Wanna run away and hide_

_When there’s no one on my side_

_And all my pride had disappeared”_

Her voice was as faint as it always was when she sang without Chara’s accompaniment. Frisk’s tone was somber. Even her eyes held a glint of sadness in them. She _was_ sad – how could she perform as if nothing were wrong when her dear little sister was currently crying her heart out into her bed’s mattress?

Chara had returned to their temporary dwelling strangely quiet the previous night. It was obvious from the air of gloom surrounding her that something was terribly wrong. When she raised her head to meet Frisk’s eyes, that’s when the dam burst. She wailed, gripping onto her sister’s shoulders as she tearfully explained what had happened at the saloon – that scum Papyrus, sending a letter asking for her to meet him in the star fields that night, only to ditch her for that little tart, Jolene.

Chara cried herself to sleep last night, and that was the last thing Frisk heard before she fell asleep herself. She had climbed into her bed and they slept together in each others arms like they did when they were little girls.

That’s what Papyrus had done to her sister – he had reduced her to a sobbing little girl. And each time Frisk dwelled on this fact for too long in the past twenty-four hours, it made her blood begin to boil all over again.

_“I take it off my mind_

_And leave it all behind_

_Nothin’ left to do but_

_Try to take the leap and follow through…”_

She had warned Chara about that playboy. More than once. But even so, she was far more angry with Papyrus than her.

Chara had already learned her lesson.

But Papyrus?

He still needed to be educated on what happens when you make fools out of the Dreemurr sisters…

“_And that’s exactly what I’ll do…!_”

She craned her neck towards where he was sitting in the crowd, her lips curving upwards wickedly with a predatory gleam in her eyes.

_“I know to you I don’t seem very strong_

_But I assure you before you can find me I’m gone_

_So come on and catch me you’ve still got a chance…”_

Her voice began to crescendo, aweing the crowd and illiciting a few hushed whispers. Sans let out a soft gasp, one hand clutched over his SOUL, his eyelights morphing into hearts. Papyrus, however, felt a cold chill go down his spine that he couldn’t shake off for some reason…

Grillby turned towards Frisk from his place behind the counter with a slightly raised eyebrow, but she only gave him a smile feigning innocence. The instrumental picked up, and Frisk turned her gaze back on the crowd, specifically Papyrus, her SOUL pumping with DETERMINATION.

_“But not for long_

_I’ll be rollin’ place to place_

_Won’t stop till I win the race_

_Although I may have crossed the line”_

Sans watched, spellbound, as Frisk danced across the stage, oblivious to the dramatic change of mood between her and his brother present. He was far too distracted by the cadence of her voice to notice. Papyrus couldn’t place why, but he felt like a small defenseless rabbit in front of a powerful lioness while subjected to her fierce gaze.

The lyrics to the song she was singing weren’t helping either.

“_No time to waste on you_

_I don’t plan on slowing_

_Down, no I’ll keep on going_

_Even if you think I’m in the wrong”_

Papyrus’s deception and Chara’s heartbreak had brought Frisk back on track. She remembered why the both of them came to this town in the first place.

She had allowed herself to become distracted by the sheriff, and because of that, her mind had been swept away from their objective. Perhaps if she had remained focused on their goal, she could have prevented her sister and that cad from ever getting as close as they had been. Then maybe Chara would be up here on stage singing with her instead of wrapped up in her bedsheets sniffling.

_“Just know that_

_Although I may not think everything through_

_I don’t take back what I say or regret what I do_

_I know that some stay in line and they stick to the plan_

_But if you leave it to me I’ll do whatever I can”_

She was the head of the operation, the brains, the planmaker. And Chara was the one who followed those plans to the letter and helped them come to fruitation. She was her darling little sister, her best friend, and her eternal partner in crime.

By toying with Chara’s emotions, he had not only made Chara his enemy, but Frisk as well. Then again, she and him were never friends, but now Papyrus has made himself a powerful enemy with a personal vendetta compared to a few nights ago where Frisk previously considered leaving him unscathed at Chara’s request when they finally did raid the town of its gold.

_“'cause_

_I know that’s what I’m here for_

_I don’t wanna wait around anymore_

_Even if you can’t see_

_The good inside me_

_I don’t have the time to tell you_

_Why I do the things that I do_

_Just please hold on and soon you’ll see_

_That I’m not the villain I appear to be”_

She and Chara had done their share of heists before, but Frisk had been in this business longer than Chara. Her sissy wasn’t nowhere near as innocent as most of the town’s population thought she was, but she was still a saint compared to herself.

That’s why Frisk always insisted on doing the dirty work during their jobs most of the time – even if Chara had no qualms on doing it herself, Frisk didn’t want to stain her sister’s hands with more blood than necessary, metaphorically speaking or otherwise.

Because deep down, no matter what, she wanted the best for her sweet little Chara. Even when they pickpocketed and stole, what they took, Frisk always kept in mind how their spoils could benefit Chara first, herself second.

Chara had been her entire world since she first entered it.

_“Movin’ along, no I won’t settle down_

_Until I’m locked behind bars or I’m kicked outta town_

_So you can keep on a runnin’ around and around_

_But you will never quite catch up to me!”_

Frisk put her everything into her song and dance routine. Her singing had never been quite as powerful as it was this night, her kicks had more force put into them some members of the crowd realized - Frisk was imagining knocking the teeth of the monster that broke her Chara’s heart right out of his skull.

Focusing on this song was quite literally the only thing on the face of this Earth that was keeping Frisk from leaping off the stage and onto the table where he sat to beat Papyrus within an inch of his life in front of every patron in the saloon at the moment. If she poured her aggression out into her routine, she could hold off on carrying out her violent desires.

_“And I know you think I’m crazy_

_But I hope that maybe_

_Now you’ll see why…”_

And yet, every time Frisk caught eyes with him in the crowd, her anger rose exponentially. In an effort to calm herself, she switched from maintaining eye contact with Papyrus to looking at the other members of the audience. She didn’t allow her gaze to remain on Sans for too long whenever it fell on him, however.

He had his elbows propped on the table, his hands pressed against his cheeks flushed blue, his heart-shaped eyelights never once tearing away from her focused on her every move – every step she made, every breath she took, he didn’t want to miss a single second.

If Frisk had witnessed this a few days ago, she might have blushed.

But not now.

Those moments between them, when she felt a warmth creep onto her face and her heart and SOUL flutter because of him… She buried them in the very back of her mind, where they were soon to be discarded.

No more silly distractions.

No more tender feelings to take either of them away from their shared ambition.

_“We came to this gold infested town with a job to do and I intend to finish it…”_ Frisk thought, clenching her fists and belting out the last line of her song.

_“I had to tryyyyyyyy…!”_

A lull of silence followed the song’s end, then suddenly, the entire saloon erupted into a raucous round of applause. Grillby was beginning to become concerned that his furniture would be damaged in the excitement, but the crowd managed to compose itself before it ever came to that.

The sole person in the establishment that hadn’t moved a muscle was Papyrus, who had been locked into his current position early into Frisk’s performance. Nobody picked up on his discomfort though, everyone assuming that he too had been taken aback and bewitched by the lovely Miss Frisk’s unexpectedly powerful voice.

He finally moved to take a swig of his drink, the beverage sloshing about when he tried to bring the mug to his mouth with his quivering hand. When he finally got a mouthful, he swallowed hard.

“WASN’T SHE AMAZING, PAPYRUS?!” Sans shouted, his eyes shifting to stars as he rigorously shook Papyrus’s shoulder in his enthusiasm. “I NEVER KNEW MISS FRISK COULD SING LIKE THAT!”

“y-yeah. i didn’t k-know either…” Papyrus stuttered, his knees weak and feeling as though he would collapse if he were to stand up.

“PAPYRUS, YOU BETTER NOT BE THINKING ABOUT STEALING AWAY MISS FRISK FOR YOURSELF, MISTER!” Sans warned with a frown and a sharp jab to the sternum, mistaking his brother’s apprehension for attraction. “IF YOU DO, I’LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU! SHE HAS ENOUGH UNSEEMLY SUITORS TO DEAL WITH FOR THE MOMENT, AND YOU ALREADY HAVE MISS CHARA! BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT YOU HAVE AND DON’T! _BE_! **_GREEDY_!**”

“y-yeah. c-chara, you’re right again, bro.” He then slowly pushed himself into a standing position and took a few wobbly steps towards the saloon’s counter.

“_that was the most terrifying three minutes and thirteen seconds of my entire life…_” Papyrus thought as he downed his entire glass, hoping the alcohol would soothe his frazzled nerves after _that_ performance.

Though he wasn’t aware as to _why_ yet, Papyrus knew that Frisk was upset with him for some reason – more than usual. She continued to glare at him with a heated gaze throughout her song and dance number, almost accusingly.

And the lyrics – Papyrus had thought since he first met her that Frisk seemed suspicious, but Sans would hear none of it. It surprised him that someone like Chara, sweet and innocent as a lamb, was related to someone so _unsavory_. Some of the men around town had been taken in by her, but Papyrus had unknowingly just witnessed her revealing her true colors to him.

Disguised as an incredibly catchy musical number, Frisk’s song had been a subtle declaration of war against the entire town.

And her shared gazes with him throughout were a stern warning – cross either of us again and you’ll pay for it **_dearly_**.

~~~~~~~~~~

“M-MISS FRISK! PLEASE WAIT!”

Once Grillby dismissed her for the night, Sans attempted to flag her down to compliment her performance and maybe a chat, he hoped. However, Frisk didn’t turn around when he called out to her, didn’t even slow down as she headed out the door.

“IS SOMETHING WRONG?” Sans asked worriedly when he caught up to her, a concerned Papyrus trailing after him not too far behind, but far enough.

She continued to ignore him, her pace quickening just slightly.

Knowing she didn’t want to be bothered at the moment, Sans should have gave up then and turned in for the night to seek answers when Frisk was in a better mood, but his curiousity, confusion and feelings of hurt won out over his common sense.

“FRISK. PLEASE TALK TO ME.” He nearly pleaded when her steps grew even more hurried. “SOMETHING’S OBVIOUSLY WRONG. DON’T KEEP YOUR EMOTIONS BOTTLED UP WHEN TALKING ABOUT IT MIGHT MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER. PAPYRUS DOES THAT AND I HATE IT… SO PLEASE…”

“There’s nothing to say.” She retorted, not slowing down in the slightest.

“DON’T LIE TO ME.” He shot back, rushing in front of Frisk to block her path. “TELL ME THE TRUTH! I’M NOT MOVING UNTIL YOU TELL ME WHAT’S BOTHERING YOU!”

Frisk kept her head down, not meeting his gaze which matched her own while she had been on stage staring down Papyrus. She bit her lip, almost hard enough to draw blood, but Sans then took her face in his hands and gently coaxed her lower lip free, stroking over the abused skin with his thumb.

“FRISK…” He pulled her face closer to his until the tip of her nose nearly touched his nasal ridge, his eyes imploring.

She looked down at their feet and mumbled something, but Sans was quick to tilt her chin upward to regain eye contact.

“FRISK…?” He repeated, his tone filled with concern as his thumbs traced patterns over her cheeks.

“We shouldn’t see each other anymore.”

His movements immediately ceased.

“…What?” Sans asked, his voice dropping to a broken whisper.

“We shouldn’t see each other anymore.” She said again, her tone more firm and her gaze sharp as she pried herself away from him and his touch, taking a step back.

“You… you don’t really mean that…” His voice cracked at the end as he gave a wobbly smile. “If this is a joke, this is a really mean one to pull, Frisk… I might just take you seriously.”

“No. You **_should_** take me seriously.” She asserted, glaring at him with the very same intensity and hatred that she had towards his lying cheating brother. “It’s not a joke and I most certainly **_did_** mean it.”

“But… _why?_” Tears began to bead in the corners of his eyesockets. “W-Was it something I said or did…? If it was, I’ll never do it again! I promise-”

“No. It’s nothing you’ve done… nothing you’ve done at all.”

“Then that’s it, isn’t it?! It’s something I _haven’t_ done that I was supposed to, right?!” Sans was nearly sobbing now as he tried to reason with a Frisk consumed by thoughts of revenge. “If that’s it, then just tell me! **Tell me what to do!** I-I’ll do **_anything_** for you, just… _please don’t do this_…”

“There’s nothing you can do. Nothing at all.”

Her tone was cold, _so cold_…

_“We shouldn’t see each other anymore.”_

Sans hiccuped once, then twice before falling to his knees, his hands clutching at his chest where inside his ribcage his SOUL was aching and crying out in agony. He let out a heartbroken wail before the sound of his quiet sobs were the only noise heard on the empty streets of the town.

Frisk didn’t spare him a second glance and continued her walk home without another word to spare for him.

Papyrus looked down at his brother, and his own SOUL told him that he should stay and comfort him in his time of need…

But Frisk wasn’t the only one with a penchant for taking revenge.

“hey.”

He said once he had significantly caught up to her and was far away enough from Sans that he couldn’t hear. Frisk didn’t stop but that didn’t matter to him – he could walk and talk at the same time.

“i know you seem to have a _bone to pick_ with me…” That was the understatement of the century there, “but why’d you say all that stuff to my bro? sans didn’t do anything to tick you off, and he definitely didn’t deserve whatever that was back there.”

“…”

“so? don’t you have anything to say for yourself?”

Frisk suddenly spun on her heel and was standing before him in an instant. Papyrus froze in his tracks, for directly in front of him was the barrel of a revolver, and its owner’s finger was hovering dangerously over the trigger.

“One false move and I’ll shoot you down. I mean it.”

“d-do i need to raise my hands up, or…?” He brought himself to ask, his arms already half raised before she answered him.

“No. Keep them down. Seeing your hands raised up like that makes you look kind of creepy. Like you’re about to do something… untoward.”

He briefly considered raising his arms again just for that comment, but her thumping the business end of her revolver against his sternum quickly told him that testing Frisk’s rapidly waning patience was a bad idea.

“Listen, I’m in a hurry, and I’m sure you are too.” The silver of her revolver glinted in the moonlight. “So you had better leave me alone from here on out.”

“that doesn’t explain why you treated my brother the way you did!” Papyrus pushed his wariness of the weapon in front of him aside, the image of Sans slumped on his knees as he cried on the cold hard ground burned in his eyesockets. “why…? i know you never liked me, but… i thought you at least liked him. no, i know you did… so… what’s changed?”

A bitter smile slipped onto her lips as she all but spat out, “Now you will know of the joy of comforting a sibling who’s SOUL aches with heartbreak, of the restless nights that will be spent holding them in your arms as they bawl like a small child…”

“what are you talking about?! that doesn’t explain anythi-”

The end of the revolver slamming against his chin and forcing his mouth shut silenced him.

“**C h a r a**…” Frisk hissed. “You… you **_hurt_** her. And it’s taking every fiber of my willpower, every ounce of my DETERMINATION… **not** to end your life right here and now.”

“what did _i_ ever do to chara?” He questioned incredulously.

“You really don’t know?! Is your skull that vacant of rational thought?!” She growled, her pointer finger lightly stroking the cool metal surface of the trigger.

“all i know about chara right now is that she’s supposed to be sick and from the sound of things, it’s supposed to _somehow_ be **my** fault.”

“And it is your fault.” She said punctuated by a swift nod.

“**y-you’re crazy!** how could her falling ill be any fault of mine?!”

“How? Does the name ‘Jolene’ ring any bells?”

“jolene? What does she have to do with-”

“But I forget how ignorant you actually are, so maybe _this_ will jog your memory.”

Frisk thrust a crumpled parchment at his chest. Papyrus cautiously unfurled the piece of paper and his SOUL stilled.

_My Chara,_

_You performed wonderfully as always. Let’s escape to the star fields tonight. Wait for me there._

_ \- Carrot Stick_

He slowly raised his head to meet Frisk’s scornful expression. He opened his mouth but no words would come out.

“s-she… she never showed up last night.” He feebly tried to argue, but Frisk silenced him with another upward thrust of her revolver.

“Because she saw _you_ with that cheap little tramp, _Jolene_!” She interrupted, then went on with a poor impersonation of the two, “_‘Do you have any plans for tonight? None, I hope.’ ‘well you’re in luck then, i’m free for the rest of the night.’_”

“…” Papyrus was rendered speechless once again.

“She told me _everything_, so don’t you even **_dare_** try to pin any blame on her!”

Frisk took a deep breath, the hand holding the revolver slowly lowering. “It’s getting late… Now, I believe we both have a distraught sibling to tend to for the night, wouldn’t you agree Mister Papyrus Gaster?”

Her voice had shifted to a faux sugary sweet tone, but he could still hear the underlying venom there. Papyrus heard her footsteps grow more faint, but he made no move to pursue her any further. It was only the thought that Sans was probably still bawling in the empty road behind him that brought Papyrus to his feet. As he gathered his brother’s weak and trembling form in his arms, all he was left wondering was,

“_what have i done…?_”

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this story and are interested in the probability of a sequel, then you can find information on it in Volume 4 of my Franstastic Prompts Collection on my tumblr: https://franstastic-ideas.tumblr.com/


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